Neural Valuation of Rewards and Punishments in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Computational Approach

A new Yale study sought to unveil the neural mechanism which may govern deficits in decision making under uncertainty in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Applying a decision-making task which targeted the subjective valuation of rewards and punishments and was performed during a functional MRI scan, activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) during valuation of uncertain options was associated with higher PTSD symptoms, an effect which was consistent for decisions made under conditions of both uncertain gains and losses.

Further exploratory analysis – the application of computational modeling of choice behavior -- was used to estimate the subjective value of each experiential condition. The investigators found that neural encoding of subjective value varied as a function of PTSD symptoms. Most notably, individuals with PTSD exhibited enhanced representations of the saliency of gains and losses in the neural valuation system, especially in ventral striatum.

These results, published in Translational Psychiatry, suggest a link between the valuation system and the development and maintenance of PTSD, and demonstrate the significance of studying reward and punishment processing within subject.

Lead author of the study was Yale Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program student Ruonan Jia in collaboration with investigators from the Yale PTSD Stress Lab, directed by Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, PhD, professor of psychiatry and of psychology, and the Yale Decision Neuroscience Lab, directed by Ifat Levy, PhD, associate professor and vice chair of diversity, equity and inclusion in comparative medicine.

Other Yale authors include Lital Ruderman, PhD; Robert Pietrzak, PhD, MPH; Charles Gordon, MA; Daniel Ehrlich, PhD; Serena Mirchandani, BA; Clara DeFontes, BA; the late Steven Southwick, MD; John Krystal, MD; Harpaz-Rotem; and Levy.